Powerful forces such as the global impact of new information
technologies, the approach to the limits of global environmental
sustainability, the movement towards an integrated global market,
and the challenge to state sovereignty are converging to produce
revolutionary change on a global scale. This convergence is
sometimes referred to as globalization. As a process that expands
and intensifies interactions between disparate peoples, their
commerce, and their ideas, it is not new, but the process of
globalization that we are witnessing today is fundamentally
different – the scale and reach are greatly expanded and the speed
is accelerated.
The evolving role of international law from diplomatic protection to
the law of treaties to humanitarian law to the International
Criminal Court, among others, has had a profound impact on
globalization.
This course will focus on the intersection of globalization and
international law and the changing nature of the nation-state
system. We will examine how the principles of international law and
the creation of international norms impact the international
responsibility of states and the various aspects of globalization.